The 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) hosted it second day of competition on Thursday at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, FL, with the second win of the circuit for Canadian Olympic gold medalist Eric Lamaze. After winning the first class of the circuit in Wednesday’s 1.45m speed class with Check Picobello Z, Lamaze topped Thursday’s $25,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 1 aboard Artisan Farms LLC’s Rosana du Park. The 12-week WEF circuit runs through March 29, 2015, awarding over $8.2 million in prize money.

Eric Hasbrouck (USA) is the course designer in the International Arena at PBIEC for week one competition and set another great track for Thursday’s Challenge Cup class. Forty-five entries showed in round one with nine advancing to the jump-off and four double clear rounds. Eric Lamaze and Rosana du Park were first to go in the jump-off and put the pressure on with a clear round in 38.18 seconds that would hold on for the win.

Darragh Kerins (IRL) and Jan Van Tricht’s D Elia van het Molenhof finished second in 38.47 seconds. Ian Millar (CAN) and The Baranus Group’s Baranus placed third in 39.13 seconds, and Denise Wilson (USA) and Blue Gate Farm LLC’s Quidam’s Hero finished fourth in 43.39 seconds. Leslie Howard and The Utah Group’s Utah had the fastest time in 37.91 seconds, but dropped a rail at the second to last fence to finish fifth.

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